Foster, Joseph, Hon.

The following data is extracted from History of the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and Washington, 1889.

HON. JOSEPH FOSTER. - Mr. Foster was the fourth child in a family of eleven children, and the son of Thomas and Rosetta J. Larsky Foster. He was born near Hamilton, Ontario, April 10, 1828, where he lived until six years of age, when his parents moved to Geogy county, Ohio.

When old enough he learned the tailor's trade, and when twenty-one years of age went to Wisconsin, locating in Cheboygan, where he followed his trade for three years. He then, in 1851, started overland to the Pacific coast, and reached Portland in July, 1852. he went to the Shasta and Rogue river mines, where he followed mining a short time, after which he went to San Francisco. He then came on a sailing vessel to Seattle, and located a Donation claim on the Duwamish, and has since followed logging and farming. He now owns three hundred and forty acres nine miles east of Seattle.

Mr. Foster is a strong Democrat, and in 1859 was elected tot he territorial legislature on the Democratic ticket. Since that time he has been elected three terms to the lower house, and three terms to the council, being the only man in Washington Territory who has held the same position so many times.

He was married on the Duwamish to Miss Martha J. Steel, a native of Indiana. By this union they have had a family of five children, of which only two sons survive.

Source: History of the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and Washington, 1889

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